#14: Fostering self-esteem in your kids, maintaining independence, & managing the impact of autoimmune diseases on your family: A Mother's Day episode with Melissa Stratton

Melissa Stratton is a parent, wife, sister, daughter, and friend. I've known Melissa (Missy) for over 20 years, and in those years I've learned so much from her about showing up in relationships, being emotionally responsive, and how to approach difficult conversations in a loving way, while having boundaries. I have so much respect for her relationship with her kids and her family, and have seen her raise three kids who were all born at very different times at her life, and all have varying personalities. A week prior to recording this episode, her oldest (24) got married, meanwhile, her other two are 8 and 14 years old. We talk about the guilt she felt due to the impact of fighting Lyme Disease, parathyroid, and Hashimoto’s, and how she’s worked to help her kids recover from the impact that had on them. Other topics: digital parental controls on devices and apps, including YouTube, and walking the line of allowing kids to be exposed to certain elements in various real life and digital scenarios, limiting screen time during the week and depending on where a kid is with their own self-esteem and personal development. Trusting your kids and tailoring your rules to where kids are at, where technology is at, and circumstantially. Raising kids in Orange County, progressing as a person while raising other people, and the importance of independence and self-care and having hobbies. Her approach to decision-making as a parent and advice to other parents, and what it feels like to have her eldest kid married and out of the house, and how no one really prepared her for this feeling. Follow #BTSPodcast across social platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/btsthepodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/btsthepodcast/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/btsthepodcast/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/19055475/ Want to support this podcast? Use promo code "LYNAE" to book your first Breather room, an app that allows you to book meeting spaces in different cities. Use LZLRZ to save on an in-home massage with SOOTHE, LCOOK61 to save on your first HotelTonight booking, or simply VenMo me some money to support my coffee habit: @lynae-cook --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/btspodcast/support